


Helpless

by Bitterblue



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 17:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5383379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterblue/pseuds/Bitterblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper Wright really loves boba. History class and group projects, not so much. Lucky she gets assigned such a nice partner...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helpless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jarofbeees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jarofbeees/gifts), [thosefarplaces](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosefarplaces/gifts).



Twenty seconds before class officially starts, Piper Wright slides into her seat with a huff. Trying to play it off like she's not still trying to catch her breath, she takes her notebook and pen out and gives the cute girl next to her a small apologetic shrug. She's been late or nearly late every class, and she feels a little bad sitting next to this girl and sweating, but her class before is all the way across campus  _and_ there's a boba place in between. No one could reasonably expect her to make such a long walk without a tea break. Feeling a little self-conscious, she takes a sip. Strawberry goodness, all the way. It helps. Kind of. The girl's almost smiling, and Piper decides it's because she just doesn't want to encourage Piper's own bad behaviour by rewarding it with a very becoming smile.

"Alright, everyone," the professor says, pulling a paper out of her bag as she begins to address the class. "As you all know, one of your major projects will be a group project. I've previously allowed students to choose their own teams, but I find that it's more beneficial for everyone if I actually pair you up based on your strengths. To that end, I have already made your teams, and you have this class period to begin working out what you will be doing for your project. I'll be here to provide any guidance you want on scope or topic."

Piper contains a groan and takes another drink of her tea. Group project. She'd forgotten, between her other classes and editing the school paper, that this course had one at all. Not choosing her teammate is, at least, a relief, since she doesn't know anyone in this class and being last picked would be  _more_ embarrassing.

She snaps back to paying attention when she hears her name. "Piper Wright and Elinor Fleming." The girl next to her raises her eyebrows. The cute girl. The one Piper has been sweating next to drinking boba all semester. (The one who has probably noticed Piper's  _oh-shit-shouldn't-have-gotten-a-large-boba_  dance and subsequent sprint from the room upon dismissal that invariably follows.) The one Piper had nicknamed Blue in her own head because it felt rude to have a mild crush on someone whose name she didn't know, and she seems to live in a blue hoodie emblazoned with the logo of one of the school a cappella groups on the back. Piper manages a weak smile in return.

When all of the pairings have been handed out, the girl — Blue — Elinor —turns to Piper with a smile. "Hey," she says, and her voice is soft and low, the kind of voice that might haunt a girl's dreams. "I'm Nora."

"Piper. I guess we're, uh, going to be working together." She turns her chair to face Nora a little better, and lifts her pen to take notes. "Did you have ideas about what you wanted to work on? I admit, American History is not my forte."

Nora smiles again. "Lucky for you I'm a history major, then. Since it's so open-ended, it's kind of hard to narrow it down...is there any part that you're more into?"

Piper pulls a face. "I honestly don't know, I guess. I'm a journalism major, so maybe something about the early press could be cool. Like, revolutionary press?"

It must have been the right thing to say, because Nora lights up. "I have the  _best_ idea."

* * *

 

Laden with two cups of boba and a backpack full of snacks that evening, Piper finds Nora's dorm (small, easily overlooked) exactly where she'd been told. Nora had invited her around to her room to work on the project, and it had been downright impossible to refuse with her smiling. The idea that they'd been paired up by the professor for reasons keeps sticking with her. Maybe she's not quite as bad at history as she'd thought, if she's been paired with this girl who is clearly talented. Or maybe she's terrible, and Nora is meant to save her from failure. One or the other.

The building is narrow and the door doesn't latch quite properly, so Piper slips inside and heads up the stairs to the room number she'd been given. The door is plain, with a faint bass rumble coming through the wood. She hesitates, then knocks. The music shuts off abruptly, followed by a scrambling sound, and then the door opens to reveal Nora, faintly pink and grinning.

"Hey, you made it!" She steps back to let Piper inside. "Welcome to the Vault." The room is  _tiny_ , significantly less than half the size of the room Nat has across campus, with a single bed squished up next to a desk and mini fridge. Piper sets the boba on the desk, dropping her bag near her feet, and after a moment decides that the chair is the safest option for sitting. Nora sits on the bed, picking up her laptop and then leaning across to grab her drink from the desk.

"So, since we can kind of do whatever we want for the project as long as it's relevant, and you wanted to talk about the early press in the colonies during the revolution,  _and_ we have a lot of options for how to present this information, I'm thinking we might write a paper that's, like, stylistically of the time." Group papers are normally a giant  _no_ for Piper, after too many times being the only one doing any of the writing, but she doesn't think that's a huge risk with Blue.  _Nora_. With the challenge of writing in a different style than her own, it might be easier to share the task, too.

"Okay, but don't we have to do an actual class presentation, though?" Piper asks as she flips through her notes. "I could've sworn we had to."

"Yeah, we do, but it can just be a powerpoint or something with the key parts of the paper and...well...okay, don't laugh, but I think some background music would be super helpful and relevant." Nora bites her lip, refocusing on her computer, and then hits a key with a sharp tap.

Slightly distorted through the tinny speakers comes a man's voice, "How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?" Nora's grinning as she hits pause.

"It's  _so good_. And it touches a little on our topic, so we could, you know, use it to punch up the powerpoint. Make it entertaining." Piper can't resist the smile Nora's giving her, all earnest and enthusiastic.

"Alright. But there are ground rules. Notably, I do not sing."

"Deal." She waves her hand at the hoodie hanging from a hook over the back of her door. "I  _do_. And also we should not sing. I was thinking more...soundtrack playing." She takes a sip of her boba, and grins at Piper. "I'm really glad we got paired up, but now that you know my order, I hope you're planning to bring me tea every class, too, you know."

* * *

 

The worst part of the whole idea is that the songs are  _catchy_. Piper finds herself humming under her breath while she works on other projects, thoughts always eventually cycling back to the paper (though, if she's truthful about it, it's Blue she's really thinking about). Her gut instinct about Nora had at least been correct, and she hasn't saddled Piper with all the writing, but it also means spending more time in Nora's tiny dorm while they write together. Add in Nora singing along to the musical while they work, and Piper's once-benign crush on her cute classmate has reached critical mass.

Cooped up in the tiny cubby that passes for the editor's office in the basement housing the school newspaper, Piper types up the final draft of their paper. It's easier there than anywhere else — her dorm (too quiet), Nora's (too much Nora), the library (too many disapproving coughs for singing along quietly to Hamilton on her headphones from the librarians) — and in the late afternoon on a Tuesday it's practically abandoned.

"I do, I do, I do, I do!" Piper hits save, then print. She turns to grab the paper off the printer and yelps as she turns back to find Blue stepping up to her desk, grinning broadly. "Blue!"

Nora's eyebrows raise. Piper twists her face into an apologetic grimace. "I, uh...before I actually knew your name, I guess I called you Blue, you know. To myself. Which is not at all weird. Or anything."

"I called you Boba Girl," she shrugs. "I don't think I mind Blue too much. But…" she places her hands on the desk and leans forward across it, "do not for a second think I didn't hear you  _singing_ , Piper Wright."

Piper can feel herself go scarlet, face hot. She groans, covering her face with her hands. "Your stupid musical is  _really_ catchy!"

"Look in your eyes and the sky's the limit. Helpless!" Nora sings, rather more in key than Piper had been. She's still smiling, and shrugs a little before continuing. "I'm so into you. I am so into you." Piper is going to die on the spot. The headline flashes across her mind's eye _: Local Student Reporter Spontaneously Combusts_. Nora seems to realize what she's just sung, and steps back a little, twisting her hands together. "Uh...I mean, yes, it's a good song. Very catchy. Good for singing. I didn't mean to embarrass you--"

"No! You didn't. I just...you didn't. It's okay, Blue. Nora. Fuck." Piper groans and lets her head thunk against the desk. "Paper's done. I'll see you in class tomorrow?" Her voice is a little muffled by the wood of the desk. She hears Nora step closer and pick up the paper, then unzip her backpack and presumably put it inside.

"Yeah...that sounds, uh, it's good. Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow."

Piper stays sitting uncomfortably at her desk for an extra half an hour just to be safe.

* * *

 

Nora looks up with a pleasantly surprised expression as Piper slides into her seat a solid two minutes before class is due to start. Piper forces a smile, hoping it looks natural, but she can't quite meet Nora's eyes. She'd spent the rest of the evening replaying Nora singing  _that_ to her, trying to work out if it meant anything. On the one hand, she'd sung an awful lot of Hamilton at Piper over the past couple of weeks, so it's not like this was a new experience, conceptually. On the other, she'd avoided singing  _that_ (not that Piper had been paying close enough attention to know for sure, of course, that would be absurd), and she could have jumped in with anything else or not at all. On the first again, Piper  _had_ been singing  _Helpless_ herself, so maybe it was just some sort of musical theatre performance choice. On the second, Nora had fled when they both got red and embarrassed, which might imply a mutual crush.

Piper hadn't gotten a lot of sleep.

She's paying for it now, yawning as she takes her notebook and pen out of her bag.

"Hey," says Nora, quietly catching her attention. "I, uh, I meant to give you this yesterday, but…" She reaches into her backpack and pulls a small brown bag out of it, handing it to Piper. She takes it, curious, and opens the bag. Inside is a brown newsboy hat. "I know it's not period appropriate for the presentation, but I saw it and I thought of you, so...thanks, for being a significantly better partner than being assigned by the professor might imply. I had a good time."

Piper pulls the hat out and puts it on. "Do I look good" She strikes a pose, pen to her lip as if thinking what to write next. "Very reporter-y. Thanks, Blue. You didn't have to do that. I didn't get you anything. Are presents at the end of a project some sort of social etiquette I missed somehow? I mean, look, I didn't exactly have a ton of friends in high school."

Nora's blushing a little, and she bites her bottom lip before answering, "No! No, I mean, I just...I saw it. Thought it'd look good on you. I hope that's not weird."

"It's super weird. In a good way."

The presentation goes better than Piper had anticipated. Nora is a good public speaker, and Piper's enthusiastic, and the music really is a good addition. Back in their seats, during the presentation after theirs, Nora slides her a note. Raising her eyebrows, Piper unfolds it.

_Thanks for being such a fun person to work with. <3_

Piper feels her face get hot, and props her cheek in her hand, hoping to hide some of the blush from the rest of the class. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Nora smiling broadly, ostensibly at the students reporting about cold war computing but more likely at how Piper's blushing.  

They both linger after the professor dismisses class for the day, slowly putting their pens and notebooks away. Piper is the first to speak up. "Hey, Blue?" Nora stands, pulling her backpack over one shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"It's kind of your fault I didn't get to have my customary boba today, and I'm really feeling the loss of its sugary caffeine goodness…" She stands, too, hefting her tote bag and then reaching up to touch her new hat briefly. "So I'm thinking you owe me one."

Nora splutters a laugh, going pink across her cheeks and ears. "Asking you to be on time for class is not  _that_ unreasonable, Piper."

"Yeah, but...I mean, if you don't want to, no big deal, forget I asked. I just. It might be nice, if you wanted to go get some boba  _with_ me." She bites her lip, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Nora reaches across the desk and takes Piper's hand, squeezing it a little before pulling her towards the door. Still smiling, she sings, softly so only Piper can really hear, "I do, I do, I do, I do."


End file.
